The ferocious Muslim protests at the publication of the cartoons in the European press escalated into a global phenomenon at the weekend. The violence appeared likely to intensify despite calls for restraint from some leading clerics. Denmark, where cartoons of the prophet Mohammed first appeared in September, was the main target of arson, threats and calls for an economic boycott.

Syria

On Saturday protesters in the capital, Damascus, set fire to the Danish and Norwegian embassies. The Swedish embassy, in the same building as the Danish mission, was damaged. Protesters also tried to storm the French embassy but were held off by riot police. No diplomats were injured. The Danish and Norwegian foreign ministries advised citizens to leave Syria as soon as possible. Last night the Syrian foreign ministry said it "expresses its regret regarding the violent acts which accompanied the protests and caused material damage at some embassies".

Iran

It has recalled its ambassador to Denmark, following the example of Syria, Saudi Arabia and Libya. "Insulting the prophet was unacceptable and a sign of barbarism," the Iranian spokesman, Hamid Reza Asefi, said, adding that Tehran planned to take further action. On Saturday, the Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, ordered authorities to form a committee to review the possibility of cancelling commercial deals with Denmark and other countries where the drawings were published.

Palestine

About 30 gunmen threatened to attack a French learning centre in Nablus yesterday. But after negotiating with police guarding the building, they were allowed only to scrawl on the building: "This place is closed" and "God is great". One of the gunmen, who did not give his name, said they would not allow the centre to be reopened until European leaders apologised for the caricatures. Student protests took place in Ramallah, West Bank.

Iraq

A militant group called for attacks on people from countries where the cartoons were published. Calling itself the military wing of the Army of the Right, its supporters handed out leaflets during a demonstration in the insurgent stronghold of Ramadi. The leaflets said: "The first target of upcoming attacks should be Danish troops. We demand that all clerics in Arab countries issue fatwas [religious edicts] against foreigners and shut all embassies." Denmark has more than 500 troops in Iraq.

Afghanistan

Thousands protested. In the northern city of Fayzabad police fired into the air to disperse a group of rowdy protesters. The local deputy governor, Shams ul-Rahaman, said the police were preventing some 1,000 demonstrators marching to the offices of the United Nations and other aid groups. In the central Afghan city of Mihtarlam, 3,000 demonstrators burned a Danish flag and demanded that the editors of the Danish newspaper that first published the series of cartoons be prosecuted for blasphemy. More than 100 people gathered at a mosque in the southern city of Kandahar and demanded that the government sever diplomatic ties with Denmark.

Saudi Arabia

Violence was condemned by the world's leading Islamic body. "Overreactions surpassing the limits of peaceful democratic acts ... are dangerous and detrimental to the efforts to defend the legitimate case of the Muslim world," the 57-nation Saudi-based Organisation of the Islamic Summit said in a statement from its secretary general, Ekmelettin Ihsanoglu. He called the protests "regrettable and deplorable".

Pakistan

Demonstrators from Islamic groups set fire to Danish and French flags.

Indonesia

In Jakarta Muslim protesters ransacked the lobby of a building housing the Danish embassy.

Jordan

Two newspaper editors who published the cartoons were arrested at the weekend. Jihad Momani and Hisham Khalidi are accused of insulting religion under Jordan's press and publications law. Mr Momani was fired from the weekly Shihan after publishing three of the cartoons and an editorial calling on Muslims to be reasonable. "What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?" he wrote. Mr Khalidi's al-Mehwar newspaper printed the cartoons over a week ago.

Turkey

An Italian Roman Catholic priest, Andrea Santaro, 60, was shot and killed in the courtyard of his church in the Black Sea port city of Trabzon, Turkish police said. Witnesses said a teenage boy carried out the attack. It is unclear whether the killing was related to the protests.

Netherlands

The controversy took an unusual turn with a Belgian-Dutch Islamic political organisation posting anti-Jew cartoons on its website on Saturday. The Arab European League's site carried a disclaimer saying the images were used as part of an exercise in free speech rather than to endorse their content. One showed an image of Anne Frank in bed with Hitler. Dyab Abou Jahjah, the party's founder, defended the action on Dutch television, saying: "Europe has its sacred cows, even if they're not religious sacred cows."